name than Christian, men would be more afraid to commit these sins, to continue in this condition of impenitence; of which they would be thus reminded, by the very tenour of their name, that they who do such things have no part in Christ, and shall inherit no portion of his glory. But whilst we are all called by the same name, we are apt to conclude that all belong to the same class, and to trust that all will come to somewhat of the same kind of end. We consider not how the kingdom of heaven is a net that gathereth of every kind, (see Matt. 13. 47.) and how far from improbable it is that we may be ourselves amongst those whom the angels shall cast out at the end of the world. We forget, in short, that as he was not a Jew which was one outwardly, (see Rom. 2. 28.) so neither is he a Christian who has nought besides the name; but real, vital, Christianity is of the spirit, and not of the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.

But, besides the danger of being beguiled as to our own spiritual condition,

by thus easily appropriating the Christian name; we have to answer also before God for any dishonour we may do to it, for any disgrace our own conduct may bring on it, in the estimation of the rest of mankind. The failings of the Church are the scandal of the world. From the day that the disciples were first called Christians, hath every sin by them committed, every forbidden act of civil strife, or religious dissension, every noted instance of pride, sensuality, or uncharitableness, all these have, from that day to this hour, been set down by the gainsayers of our faith, for an argument against the verity of the Gospel itself. Revilers of the primitive Christians could find no worse to say of them, than that they turned the world upside down. (See Acts 17. 6.) And this meant only, in their instance, that they converted mankind from ignorance to the knowledge of God. But in later ages, and in our own times, what offence is there of public or private enormity, what height is there of presumption, what depth of hypocrisy,

what vehemence of revenge, what excess of vanity, what grossness of sensual pleasure, which might not be, and has not been, objected with truth, both to nations, and to individuals, of the Christian name?

Heathens and savages, in distant lands, have hence learnt to esteem of our religion, as consistent with, and productive of, iniquity, no less abominable than their own. Christians, as they go forth to the ends of the earth, are counted in their eyes for a people, who labour indefatigably for the meat that perisheth; who pretend to serve a God which is in heaven, but who plainly care only for the things of earth; who encounter the perils of distant navigation, and provoke the enmity of inoffensive tribes, for objects of luxury, which these hold cheap; who indulge on their arrival in excesses to them unknown, in religious dissensions by them unheard of; and who, at their departure, leave behind them little besides new ornaments of vanity, new topics of discord, new weapons of mutual destruction. The name which to

the Greeks was foolishness, by reason of their own folly, is now become an offence, by reason of our iniquity. It represents no longer a humble self denying people, that were through much tribulation entering into the kingdom of God; but a proud, a covetous, a luxurious, a liti gious race, whose manifest design it is to enjoy, to retain, and to extend, for their own benefit, their kingdom upon earth. Oh, that, by way of propagating the Gospel abroad, we would learn to practise the Gospel at home! Oh, that we would send forth, for that holy end, not money only, and books, but examples of Christianity; not preachers only, but doers, of the word!

Whilst the name of Christian, thus borne and thus disgraced, by too many of our brethren in foreign parts, is the most fatal of all hindrances to the prevalence of the Gospel amongst the heathen; its abuse is pregnant with the same danger, and is laden with the same awful responsibility, in regard to our conversation here at home. Every one of us who is called a

Christian has to answer for the conformity of his life to his profession; and that, with an especial reference to the influence it may produce on those who dwell around him. If their sin oft hinders our salvation, we too by our sin endanger theirs ; and we do so, let us remember, at our own peril. To name the name of Christ, to be named after it, ought always to be accompanied with departing from iniquity. (See 2 Tim. 2. 19.) This all

men know to be our rule. And hence every one is tempted, however unreasonably, to conclude, that if we profess that name, and yet continue in sin, there is some ground of excuse, some hope of escape, on the strength of which they may do so likewise. If then, without striving after the reality, we have been hitherto content with the mere title, how many times must we have grievously misled others, and mostly those most near to us, by failing to adorn it with our lives! And how must it, in the end, embitter our regret, in the loss of those we love, to think, that, through our